Top 10 SAP Concur competitors & alternatives [2024 guide]

SAP Concur is one of the most widely used software solutions for expense management and corporate travel booking. Its cloud-based platform helps companies track and manage employee spending, expense reporting, and travel costs. However, despite its popularity, SAP Concur has some significant limitations that can hinder business efficiency and growth. In this article, we'll explore the top alternatives and competitors to SAP Concur. 

Why consider alternatives to SAP Concur?

While SAP Concur offers a robust set of features, it falls short in several key areas that can negatively impact user experience and overall expense management effectiveness. Here are some of the most common complaints about SAP Concur:

1. Limited customization

Some users find SAP Concur's platform rigid and difficult to tailor to their specific business needs. This can lead to companies struggling to configure approval workflows, expense categories, and reporting templates to match their unique policies and processes. This limited flexibility forces teams to adapt their operations to the software, rather than the other way around.

2. Complex and time-consuming interface 

Users report that SAP Concur's interface is unintuitive and requires excessive time for basic tasks. Simple expense reports can take hours to complete, with multiple page loads and clicks required for basic functions like hotel itemization or per diem adjustments. Some users have reported avoiding expense submissions entirely or paying for business expenses personally just to avoid using the system.

3. Integration constraints 

SAP Concur's integration capabilities are limited compared to other expense management platforms, particularly when it comes to connecting with modern business tools and cloud-based systems. While the platform does offer standard integrations with major ERP and accounting software, it may not provide the depth of connectivity that some businesses require for their tech stack. Specifically, SAP Concur has a limited ability to customize or manipulate the data being connected to the system, meaning there are insights that teams are missing.

Top 10 SAP Concur alternatives in 2024

Now that we've explored some of the reasons why companies are looking for alternatives to Concur, let's dive into the top options available in the market today.

1. Rippling Spend

Rippling Spend is a comprehensive spend management suite that offers corporate cards, bill pay, and expense management all within the same platform.

What sets Rippling Spend apart, aside its consolidation of tools, is its ability to connect employee data to company spend. This allows finance teams to automatically route approvals to the right person every time, and create granular expense policies based on role, department, location, and more.

For example, your finance team can create a dynamic per diem for all sales members that are actively traveling: $150 for account executives, and $350 for managers and above. If someone is promoted to a manager, Rippling automatically updates their per diem based on this policy.

Rippling also offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for employees to snap a photo of their receipt and submit expenses on the go. Transactions are automatically categorized and matched with receipts, reducing manual work for the finance team. Plus, with real-time reporting and analytics, you can keep a pulse on spending trends and reconcile any issues far in advance of your month-end close.

Concur vs Rippling Spend

Where Concur specializes in travel and expense management, Rippling consolidates corporate cards, bill pay, and expense management into a single, unified system. This enables unique capabilities like role-based spending controls and tech-enabled corporate cards block out-of-policy transactions before they are completed. Companies using Rippling often close their books up to 7x faster than with their previous providers and commonly see 100% expense policy compliance.

2. Ramp

Ramp is a corporate card and expense management solution that focuses on helping businesses save money and optimize their spending. One of Ramp's standout features is its AI-powered finance platform, which analyzes your company's spending patterns and provides personalized recommendations on where you can cut costs. For instance, Ramp might alert you to redundant software subscriptions or identify opportunities to negotiate better contracts.

Ramp also offers a streamlined expense tracking and reporting process, with automatic receipt matching and built-in compliance checks. Employees can easily snap photos of their receipts and submit expenses directly from the Ramp mobile app. 

Concur vs Ramp 

While Concur excels in travel expense management, Ramp distinguishes itself with its corporate streamlined expense management experience that helps businesses optimize their spending.

3. Brex

Brex is an all-in-one financial platform that includes corporate cards, expense management, and cash management solutions. What distinguishes Brex is its generous rewards program, which offers high point multipliers on categories like travel, dining, and software subscriptions. These rewards can add up to significant savings for companies with high spending in these areas.

Brex also provides instant virtual cards, which can be a game-changer for businesses that need to make quick, one-off purchases or give contractors and freelancers access to company funds. Plus, with automatic receipt matching and real-time transaction data, Brex makes it easy to stay on top of expenses..

Concur vs Brex

Concur's depth in travel management complements its expense tools, while Brex focuses on providing a comprehensive financial stack including banking services. Brex's instant virtual card issuance and rewards program offer unique advantages for fast-moving businesses.

4. Expensify

Expensify is a popular expense management platform known for its simple, user-friendly interface and powerful automation features. One of Expensify's standout capabilities is its SmartScan technology, which uses advanced OCR to automatically extract data from receipts and populates expense reports with just a few clicks. This can save employees hours of manual data entry each month.

Concur vs Expensify

While both platforms offer automation, Expensify focuses on rapid receipt processing and straight-through expense submission, and Concur provides comprehensive travel booking integration and policy management tools.

5. Emburse

Emburse is a suite of expense management and accounts payable (AP) automation solutions designed for businesses of all sizes. One of Emburse's key differentiators is its flexibility—the platform can be easily customized to fit your company's unique policies, approval workflows, and reporting requirements. This makes it a good choice for businesses with complex expense management needs.

Emburse also offers a virtual and physical corporate card program, which can help you better control employee spending and earn valuable rewards on purchases.

Concur vs Emburse

Unlike Concur, Emburse emphasizes flexibility in policy customization and payment methods. Both platforms support enterprise-grade expense management needs through different approaches.

6. Navan

Navan (formerly TripActions) is a travel and expense management platform that aims to simplify and streamline the entire business trip experience. What sets Navan apart is its AI-powered virtual assistant Ava, which provides hyper-personalized recommendations based on travelers' historical preferences, loyalty programs, and company policies. 

Navan also offers a user-friendly expense reporting interface, with automatic receipt matching and real-time compliance alerts. With integrated travel management features like flight tracking and 24/7 customer support, Navan can help reduce the stress and complexity of business travel for your employees.

Concur vs Navan

Both platforms specialize in travel and expense management, with Navan emphasizing AI-driven personalization and Concur offering extensive global travel content and booking capabilities. 

7. Airbase

Airbase is a procure-to-pay platform that combines guided procurement, AP automation, expense management, and corporate cards into one platform. One of Airbase's unique features is its "spend orchestration" approach, which automates the entire spend cycle from purchase intake to insights, while ensuring compliance through consistent workflows and approval processes. 

Airbase also offers AI-powered automation for accounting tasks, real-time analytics, and comprehensive audit trails for every transaction. Their integration capabilities support major accounting systems, and the platform includes features for multi-subsidiary and multi-currency operations.

Concur vs Airbase

While Concur focuses on travel and expense management excellence, Airbase takes a broader approach by incorporating procurement and accounts payable. 

8. TravelPerk

TravelPerk is a business travel management platform that offers a range of tools to simplify and optimize corporate travel. One of TravelPerk's standout features is its FlexiPerk offering, which allows companies to cancel and get a refund on any booking, up to two hours before travel, for any reason. This can provide valuable peace of mind and flexibility for businesses in an uncertain travel environment.

TravelPerk also offers an integrated expense management solution for SMBs. Plus, with personalized travel recommendations and 24/7 customer support, TravelPerk aims to make business travel a breeze for both employees and travel managers.

Concur vs TravelPerk

Both platforms prioritize travel management, with TravelPerk offering unique flexibility through its cancellation protection, while Concur provides comprehensive expense management capabilities integrated with travel booking.

9. Coupa

Coupa is an AI-powered total spend management platform focused on transforming both direct and indirect spend. What sets Coupa apart is its extensive community network of suppliers and buyers, which powers its AI-driven analytics and decision-making capabilities.

The platform provides real-time cash flow insights and AI-driven procurement strategies, along with supply chain optimization and predictive disruption management. It automates manual financial processes while handling ESG tracking, DEI compliance, and third-party risk management. The system scales to fit organizations of all sizes, helping them streamline operations and make data-driven decisions.

Concur vs Coupa

Coupa's strength lies in comprehensive procurement and supplier network features, while Concur excels in travel and expense management. 

10. BILL 

BILL Spend & Expense (formerly Divvy) is an expense management solution that combines expense management software with the BILL Divvy Card powered by Visa, eliminating traditional expense reports while providing real-time visibility and customizable control over business finances.

Through automatic receipt matching and rule-based categorization, the system handles expense management end-to-end. Users can create customizable spend controls and policies through budget management tools, generate virtual cards for fraud protection, and manage expenses on-the-go through a mobile app. The platform integrates with major accounting systems including QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct.

Concur vs BILL

While Concur provides integrated travel and expense management, BILL focuses on streamlining the entire accounts payable process with built-in corporate card capabilities. Each platform offers unique approaches to financial workflow automation.

How to choose the right alternative to Concur

With so many expense management solutions on the market, it can be challenging to determine which one is the best fit for your business. Here are some key factors to consider when evaluating alternatives to SAP Concur:

User-friendly interface

Look for a solution with a clean, intuitive interface that will be easy for employees to adopt and use on a daily basis. The platform should offer a seamless experience across desktop and mobile devices, with features like receipt capture, expense categorization, and submission just a few clicks away.

For example, imagine an employee is out at a client dinner and needs to quickly submit their receipt for reimbursement. With a user-friendly mobile app, they can simply snap a photo of the receipt, categorize the expense, and submit it for approval in a matter of seconds, all while still at the table.

Proactive spend controls

An effective expense management solution should offer robust spend controls that allow you to proactively manage employee spending and prevent out-of-policy purchases. Look for features like real-time transaction monitoring, customizable spending limits, tech-enabled corporate cards, and the ability to restrict purchases from certain merchants or categories.

Fully automated, customizable approval workflows

Every business has unique expense approval processes that need to be reflected in their expense management system. Look for a solution that allows you to customize approval workflows based on factors like employee role, expense amount, and category, and route expenses to the appropriate approvers automatically.

Imagine you have a multi-level approval process where expenses under $500 require manager approval, those between $500-$1,000 require director approval, and anything over $1,000 needs CFO sign-off. With a customizable workflow, you can automate this process and ensure that expenses are routed correctly every time, without any manual intervention.

Real-time reporting and analytics

To make informed decisions about your company's spend, you need access to real-time, accurate expense data. Look for a solution that offers robust reporting and analytics capabilities, with customizable dashboards and data visualizations that help you track key metrics, identify trends, and drill down into the details.

Consolidation of tools

Finally, when considering a new expense management provider, it's a good opportunity to consolidate the number of software solutions your business relies on. Look for a platform that can handle multiple aspects of your financial workflow, such as corporate cards, bill payments, and invoice processing, in addition to expense management.

By consolidating these functions into a single platform, you can reduce the complexity of your financial tech stack, minimize data silos, and create a more efficient and streamlined process for your finance team. Plus, with fewer systems to manage and maintain, you can reduce your overall software costs and administrative burden.

So, what is the best SAP Concur alternative?

While there are many strong contenders in the expense management space, Rippling Spend stands out as the best all-around alternative to SAP Concur. Here's why:

• Automation & customization: Rippling offers unparalleled flexibility to design fully-automated expense policies and approval workflows that match your company's unique employee data and organizational hierarchy. You can create granular rules based on employee attributes, expense categories, and spend thresholds, ensuring that every transaction is compliant with your policies.
• Granular control: With Rippling's real-time transaction monitoring and proactive spend controls, you can keep a tight leash on employee spending and prevent unauthorized or out-of-policy purchases before they happen. Plus, with clear visibility into company-wide spend, you can reconcile expenses throughout the month and significantly reduce your time to close the books.
• Reduced admin work: Rippling's user-friendly interface and mobile app make it easy for employees to submit expenses on the go, as automatic receipt matching and categorization reduce manual work for the finance team. Plus, with robust reporting and analytics tools, you can track and optimize spend with just a few clicks.
• Tool consolidation: Rippling also offers a suite of integrated workforce management tools, including HR, payroll, benefits, and more, in addition to its spend management suite . By consolidating these functions onto a single platform, you can streamline your operations, reduce software costs, and create a more seamless experience for your employees.

In summary, Rippling can help you take control of your company spend and create a more efficient, compliant, and cost-effective financial workflow.

This blog is based on information available to Rippling as of November 18, 2024.

Disclaimer: Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide or be relied on for tax, accounting, or legal advice. You should consult your own tax, accounting, and legal advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.